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Hello, Alright, the new 3.46GHz Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processor is here. It runs 'faster' thanks to a 1066MHz
Front Side Bus and the 925XE chipset, but is this really exciting? Well, not
really if we consider that reviews from around the web aren't showing much
performance gain, and the EE costs an utter fortune. The consensus in the PCstats Labs is that if you're looking to upgrade, socket 939 Athlon64's are the best option...
currently.

As
election results for our U.S. neighbours are unfolding now, let's cut to
the chase and run through some of the highlights of the 157th issue
of the PCstats Newsletter!

In
this review PCstats is testing one of Asus's flagship Radeon videocards,
the AX800XT/TVD. Built on the extremely popular ATI Radeon
X800 XT Platinum Edition VPU, I'm sure you can already guess that the
benchmark results are going to be fast... like hella-fast! ATI offload the
production of their graphics processors to TSMC's now aging 0.13 micron
manufacturing process, and each one of these little slabs of silicone
contains a full 160
million transistors. Backing those 160 million transistors is 256MB of
Samsung 1.6ns DDR-3 memory, clocked at 1.12 GHz. Continue
Here>>

In
this review, PCStats will be testing a set of new 512MB Mushkin PC2-4200
DDR-2 RAM
modules, for a total of 1GB. These green single-sided
DIMMs are wrapped in black aluminum heatspreaders, and fall into the
PC4200 class. They are rated to run at 266 MHz with 4-4-4-12 memory
timings, at 1.8V. The memory runs a bit conservatively considering it's
Mushkin, but then again it seems like most memory manufacturers are being
cautious right now.Continue
Here>>

PCStats had the opportunity to play with some of
PQI's latest and greatest, in the form of their Turbo PQI25400-1GDB dual
channel memory kit. Officially rated to run at PC5400
speeds, or DDR2-667, the PQI
Turbo memory uses conservative timings of 4-4-4-12 by default; it seems
companies from Corsair to Crucial, Kingston and OCZ are being conservative
with their ratings these days. Continue
Here>>

Home networking can be a daunting topic for computer
users who are unfamiliar with the intricacies of network technology, even
if Windows XP's new features make the process vastly easier than it used
to be. To help home users out with this essential subject, Cisco Press
recently released a new book entitled"Home
Networking: A Visual Do-It-Yourself Guide," by Brian Underdahl.

Handy tips are interspersed throughout the book, and
contain relevant information to each section. A 'what went
wrong' trouble-shooting section ends most chapters, providing a list of
the most common potential problems and a brief guide to resolving them.
The step-by-step guides cover all Microsoft operating systems from Windows
98 up to XP, which is a nice touch for users of older systems.

With the i865PE being substantially cheaper than the
i875P, we can only assume it was none to pleased that sales of its
flagship i875P solution quickly faltered... This time around, Intel has
been very tight lipped about the 915P and 925X
chipsets, and exactly what differentiates the two. The Gigabyte
GA-8GPNXP Duo socket 775 Intel Pentium 4 motherboard is based on the 915P
chipset, and targeted towards the masses. Along side the Socket 775
Pentium 4 the GA-8GPNXP
Duo will support up to 4GB of DDR-2 or DDR memory (though not at
the same time); which is one the nicer features of the 915P
chipset.Continue
Here>>

PCstats recently had an opportunity
to look at Samsung's enormous 61"
HLN617W DLP flat screen TV, and we jumped at it! DLP
displays may be less familiar to some of you than the
more conventional methods such as plasma, CRT, LCD or
rear projection, but it may well be the future of big
screen HDTV's. The HLN617W is sweet, so get ready to
sell that extra kidney as we take a close look at this
mother of all Home Theatre screens! Once we had this DLP
screen set up, we began 'testing'
Doom3 on it... ahhhh :-) Continue
Here>>

Today PCstats will be checking out
a couple of Mushkin's new low latency PC3200 Level II version 2 memory
modules. Each stick of DDR RAM is 512MB in size (for
total of 1GB), and operates at 200 MHz with timings of
2-2-2-5 at 2.6V. These are the same
DRAM modules that Corsair use on its 3200XL
line. It doesn't seem to scale quite as well as
Winbond BH-5 DRAM with tight timings, but loosening
things up does allow these Samsung chips to hit fairly
decent speeds with modest voltage increases. Continue
Here>>

With the proliferation of
WindowsXP, plugging a device like the 512MB Crucial
Gizmo 2.0 into a system doesn't even require drivers - everything is
automatic, and after a few seconds up pops a new hard drive. The Crucial
Gizmo 2.0 flash disk we will be looking at in this quick review is 512MB
in size, and communicates at USB2.0 speeds. It measures a scant 16 x 67.5 x
8mm, and has a tiny little green LED to indicate activity. The Gizmo
2.0 flash drive is small
enough that two can be installed into adjacent USB ports without
encountering any space issues.Continue
Here>>

The Antec TruePower 330W comes with some case screws,
installation manual, plug and three year warranty. The unit is compatible
with 115V/230V mains supplies care of a voltage selector switch, and
is ATX12V compatible. For power connectors there is a 20-pin and 4-pin
auxiliary connector, as well as the little used 6-pin inline power
connector. With respect to peripheral connections, the Antec
TruePower 330W features seven Molex, two Serial ATA, two floppy and
two 12V fan-only power connectors. All the connectors are black, and the
main ATX power cable is wrapped in a cable
sleeve to keep it neat.Continue
Here>>

From faster boot times, to
speeding up your current hardware, PCstats has 99 Tips to make your
computer run quicker, better, and more efficiently.

[Shortly, 104-more fantastic Tech Tips will be
released. To hold you over, here are 99
Performance Tweaks!]
This time around, our focus is on making your Windows XP
computer perform faster, and better! Whether this means booting and
shutting down quicker, achieving better 3D gaming performance, or just
making your PC feel more 'snappy,' chances are there's a tip or two in
here to help you speed things up.Continue
Here>>

PCstats Weekly Tech Tips: Printer Phantoms

System Admin's who manage large networks certainly understand how frustrating it can be to maintain shared printers, especially when it comes to stuck deleted printer jobs. They are always listed as being deleted, but never really go away.

Instead of rebooting the print server, we can restart the Print Spooler service. To do this, go to your Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services and scroll down to Print Spooler. From there right click on the service and go to 'stop,' a service control window will probably pop up for a few seconds but will disappear automatically. Once that's done, right click on the service again and select 'Start.'

The spooler service will be restarted which automatically clear out any problem print jobs. This is faster than rebooting, and great for those multi-purpose servers that have to stay online 100% of the time.

Have you checked out PCStats Forums Webdeals yet? If you're planning to upgrade your PC or buy electronics any time soon, makes sure you give that forum a spin first.